No Answers to Give
by Queen of the Castle
Summary: It seemed the Doctor was the only one who completely comprehended their reality. Ten/Rose


The Doctor rarely needed more than a few quick seconds of sleep grabbed under the TARDIS console to keep him going. So, even post-regeneration, a whole night and most of the day spent alternately laid up in someone else's bed and being dragged around unconscious like a sack of Judian pilmela was more than enough to completely recharge him. He figured, then, that he could hardly be blamed for being awake – or being completely _wired_, really – at 3:12 a.m. on Boxing Day.

Humans, on the other hand, slept far too much. Even he, with all his Time Lord senses, had lost track of just how many hours he'd spent hanging around the TARDIS trying to occupy himself while Rose collapsed for the night (relatively speaking) in her room. He couldn't believe someone who would live for so few years could willingly spend so much of that time completely insensible, especially when he had endless things to show her that were far more interesting than whatever she could possibly be dreaming about. But even when he told her so, she just rolled her eyes at him as if he still didn't understand human habits at all.

Perhaps she had a bit of a point, for he'd been _certain_ he would be the only one in the Tyler residence awake in the middle of the night. The sudden sound of a foot tapping behind him made the Doctor nearly jump clean out of his new skin. He spun around reflexively with a piece of toast still partially hanging out of his mouth. He swallowed heavily, noticing a sinking feeling that had nothing to do with the bread and marmalade making its way down his oesophagus, when he saw who his late night visitor was.

Jackie Tyler. Just about the last person he wanted to meet alone at night in a cramped kitchen.

The Doctor had realised, of course, that agreeing to stay in London for Christmas and New Year had meant family dinners and having to watch mostly silently as Rose received furtive looks from Mickey the Idiot (though that name didn't seem to fit his new mouth very well, and he wondered if that was just because of the new teeth or because Mickey had actually grown on him over the last year). He'd even known that he'd probably end up being introduced to people all around the Estate who couldn't seem to help loudly speculating over Rose's new 'boyfriend'. What he hadn't counted on was that he was going to end up _cornered_ by Rose's Mum. Which was just as well, he supposed, because then he might have just dragged Rose back into the TARDIS with Christmas dinner growing cold on the table, hoping his strategic retreat didn't come back to bite him later.

Jackie used her body to block the narrow exit and crossed her arms over her chest, though the Doctor didn't doubt that she could still whip them out for a slap or ten well before he could hope to successfully leap catlike past her and break for freedom. He pointedly chose instead to stay well back on the other side of the room – the 'safe' side – though he was all too aware of how he was literally backing himself into a corner.

Especially since he knew what was coming even before her mouth began to move.

He'd only managed to avoid the full 'what are your intentions for my daughter' talk when he'd met Pete Tyler by being temporarily dead at the time. Jackie Tyler would not be so easily deterred. He should really have come up in advance with some answer carefully designed not to get him regenerated (again). But the fact of it was that there was nothing he could really say without lying through his new teeth.

They'd kissed, and he'd died for her, and that couldn't be taken back even if Rose herself didn't remember it with any clarity. He'd become a new man with the taste of her fresh on his lips, and he doubted anything short of dying all over again would ever wash that away. She was as much a part of him now as his two hearts, and was twice as vital. Yet none of that erased the multitude of reasons why he should never ever even _think_ of kissing her again. And he just honestly didn't know how else he and Rose could possibly proceed without everything they'd built together crashing down.

Not that he planned to share any of that with Jackie, of course.

"Look, mister," Jackie said, "I might not know any other Time Kings or whatever, but I do know _men_, especially the kind that never want to stand still. You're not about to give up your little blue box and settle down, and she can't keep on with all this forever. Where's she gonna be left at the end of it all when you leave her behind? How's she s'posed to go on with her life?"

The Doctor had been asking himself more or less the same thing since just days after he'd first met Rose, only with one key difference. For although Jackie seemed to understand something about the inevitability of their situation far better than Rose did, she'd still clearly misjudged the balance of power between them.

_Rose_ was going to be the one to leave _him_. They always did unless he got there first, but she was different. He'd tried to pre-emptively drop her off safely back on Earth for her own good, and look how that had turned out. He wasn't sure he had it in him to attempt it again. Not now.

Long enough passed in silence for Jackie to clearly give up on receiving any kind of answer, if she'd ever really expected one in the first place. She shook her head at him, and he felt her condemnation keenly. In the moment before she turned away and slipped out of his sight, he saw in her eyes that same brand of resolution – of stubbornness, more like it – that made his hearts beat a little faster every time he saw it in Rose.

Whatever she might think of him, and of Rose's choices, it was obvious that Jackie Tyler had no more intention of ever leaving Rose than he did. The difference was that she was clearly determined not to ever let Rose leave her completely behind either. She'd be there to help Rose pick up the pieces. And while Rose might try to claim otherwise, she was more than strong and independent to manage to move on from him when the time came, especially since she wouldn't be alone.

The Doctor wished he could say the same for himself.

~FIN~


End file.
